Black and Blue
by ravenshell
Summary: When Raph tries to get Casey and Leo together, his plan backfires and he ends up as the object of both their affections. Why Raph and subtlety don't go together.


**Black and Blue**

The four turtles and their human friends stood around talking, relating the evening's exploits from their own points of view after their victorious multi-pronged attack on the Mob. Spirits were up and their energy still high, and rather than take that back to the Lair, they just decided to hang out on the rooftop to chat and occasionally shadow-box with one another.

Mikey told the tale of his epic battle against four mobsters at once. "…and then I turned, flipped…" He demonstrated a spinning double-backflip. "…and came at them from on top of their own van! Booyakash—" The young turtle made a dramatic leap straight upward, not noticing the outcropping pipe sticking out from the building behind him. It rang like a bell at the impact of the turtle skull ramming into it. Various groans of sympathy went up from his compatriots, from "Ooohh…" to "Oh, Mikey!" to the very sympathetic "Klutz…"

He landed, clutching his head. "—shit! Owie, owie, owie!"

"Mikey, are you okay?" April asked, even as Donnie was heading over to check on him.

Tears pooled in the little mutant's eyes, though his pause seemed to be one of determining whether to suck it up and save some face in front of his brothers and friends, or play the sympathy card for all it was worth. "Am I, Don?"

The turtles' medic pulled a penlight from his belt to shine in his younger brother's eyes as he quizzed him on who each of his brothers were, on the year, who was president, what he had for breakfast, and when Super Haikiba Smash III was going to be out.

"Seventeen—no, wait, what time is it? Sixteen days!"

Don turned back to the others. "Well, he doesn't seem to have sustained any further brain damage… Possibly a minor concussion…"

"Hey! Donnie!" Mike protested.

"But I should probably get him back to the Lair, just in case."

"Oh, come on, D! I'm…" He wobbled slightly. "…fine!"

April stepped up to steady him. "That didn't look quite 'fine'… Let's get you home."

"Maybe we should call it a night," Leo stated with disappointment, and both Raph and Casey groaned.

"No… It's fine, Leo. April and I can take care of him; you guys can stay out."

"You guys! It was just a little knock on the head… I wanna stay and party!"

April glanced over to Don, their eyes meeting conspiratorially. She turned back to Mikey. "Are you sure? With an injury like that, you should probably be taken home and put in bed with some nice soft pillows…"

"…and possibly a pizza," Don chimed in coyly.

"And some hot chocolate…"

"…with the little marshmallows in it?" Mikey seemed to be swayed by their coddling.

"We'll pick some up on the way, just for you!" April assured.

Leo gave the bunch a flat look as Mikey went into histrionics about how much his poor head hurt. "Are you sure we shouldn't all—" but Raphael cut him off with an extremely interruptive series of throat clears. When the leader finally looked over at him, he gave a nod toward April, then one toward Don, then jerked his head over his shoulder toward the Lair. Leo silently mouthed an "Oh," in understanding.

Raph grinned to himself. He wasn't always on top of this romance thing, but there were some not-so-subtle subtleties that even he had learned to pick up on. Like, for instance, when Don and April were angling for some alone-time.

"All right," the leader conceded. "Go ahead and take the Shellraiser… we'll get home on our own."

"Yeah… we'll be sure to stay out for a super long time, so you guys can take care of Mikey really good," Casey smirked, sending a wink their way. April sent a sly grin back at them as she, Don and Mike hopped down the fire escape.

Raph crossed his arms as he watched his best friend. "Gotta say, Case, you're taking Don and April cementing their relationship pretty darn well, considering."

The lanky vigilante gave a lopsided shrug. "Yeah, well… Red's made her choice. What am I gonna do, break them up? That would be a serious dick move. Nah, Casey Jones is keeping his options open. Some lucky lady or dude is bound to snatch this awesomeness up on the rebound."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"I'm telling ya, I'll have somethin' sweet on this arm by next week!"

"Right, Casey," Leo chuckled. "In the meantime, I'll race you guys back to Chinatown."

"Last one there buys gyoza for the rest!"

"Yeah, you better not be last, Jones! I know you're flat-broke!"

"Am not! Plus, not a problem with those short legs 'a yours, Stumpy!"

"Stumpy?!"

"You guys better do better than that!" Leo taunted, far ahead of them.

"Shit!"

"Dammit!"

Both took off after the leader, Casey gaining the advantage on Raph with his skates. Raph knew he was completely boned in this race, but pumped his arms and legs as hard as they would go, hoping to gain some ground with some powerful leaps when they crossed rooftops.

From the back of the pack, Raph took in his older brother's sleekness, the transitions between moves that came so easily to the eldest. No… Leo worked for those moves. Every bend, every landing, the leader spent hours drilling to perfection. The perfectionism showed in everything he did, from training, to meditation, to coordinating attacks, to the calligraphy he did to release stress… stress he no doubt created for himself by being so perfectionistic… Every movement controlled, deliberate, exact.

And, weaving back and forth in his view of his brother, was Casey, who, just like Raph, had a tendency to run in without a plan and rely on raw power and skill. Sure, the turtles had trained under Splinter pretty much since they could walk… Casey only had his dad and coach and inborn talent. The teen vigilante had come up with his own arsenal, for cripes' sake. He'd made a taser out of a goddamn potato masher! That deserved some credit. He was completely overshadowed by Don's technical know-how, even April completely outstripped him knowledge-wise, but Casey was no slouch when it came to innovation and on-the-fly thinking.

Coming up on the Dragon Gate, he watched Leo dash across a power line with so much silent ninja grace the line didn't so much as sway. Then he watched Jones approaching the lines and just about had a heart attack when the human also made to cross, accelerating before making a sideways leap and skidding across with the cable between the wheels of his skates, legs spread far to maintain tension on the wire until he reached the other side and somersaulted awkwardly over the carvings.

Raph clutched the plastron over his heart and finally let out the breath he had held as his BFF landed safely, quick thinking and raw talent saving him yet again.

His feet slowed and he paused, staring at the two of them, so different, yet so alike at the same time, almost like a yin-yang… one side in blue, the other in black.

Perfect together.

He just needed to get them to realize it.

But how?

Both of them made exaggerated arm signals to wave him over as he stood there with his chin in his hand, pondering, and eventually walking the wire over to them so as not to keep them waiting.

"The heck were you doing over there?" Casey complained at him when he arrived.

Raph looked away innocently. "Um, ya know… just takin' in the sights…"

"'The sights?'" Leo raised a questioning brow as the trio leapt to the nearest rooftop.

"Yeah, 'cause, it looked like you were lookin' at us," Casey teased. "Hey, Leo, maybe we're 'the sights!'"

"Oooh! Maybe we should strike a pose!" Both he and Casey began flexing and mugging before Raph. The red-banded turtle slapped his hand against his face, slowly drawing it down as the other two continued their antics and laughed.

"After all, Casey Jones is a sight to behold!" The human teen flexed a small, stringy bicep in front of his friend. "Right, Raph?"

"In your dreams, Jones," Raph murmured, putting the three fingers of one emerald hand over Casey's face and shoving him backward. An alleycat yowled as the boy stumbled back and trod on its tail.

Leo grinned at the interaction, then started leading the way to Murakami's noodle bar. "Let's get some gyoza."

x-x-x-x-x

Once the trio had finished off the first two rounds of pizza gyoza and were waiting for Round 3 to finish steaming, they dropped into easy conversation. Raph, sitting between his brother and best friend despite his efforts to get Casey to sit next to Leo, found himself not adding much to the conversation, rather wondering how to get Casey to notice Leo and vice versa.

"Your cooking is delicious as always, Murakami-san," Leo said as the blind chef flipped three more dumplings onto his plate. "Though, I worry we're taking advantage of you… Can you really afford to keep feeding us all free food?"

The merry man grinned in the direction of Leo's voice. "Of course, Leonardo-san! What is a few gyoza for the people who saved my life and inspired my most popular dish?"

"You're sure about that, Mr. Murakami? Casey too?" Raph checked at Leo's prompting, albeit through a full mouth.

"Without a doubt, Raphael-san. In fact, it has led me to explore more fusion dishes! Yakisoba suzette, ramen carbonara, and… tako-tacos!" The chef proudly set a tray of taco shells wrapped with a strip of seaweed, stuffed with greens, fried tofu, octopus tentacles and salsa, for them to sample.

The three of them recoiled at the hideous-looking items, doing their best to hold in any rude vocalizations of revulsion. But, from Mr. Murakami's look, he expected a reaction, and Raph and Casey looked to Leo to deliver it. Leo flushed a bit, immediately on the spot. "Gee, ah, you know, I'm actually really full. Maybe next time…" he tried, doing his best to sound innocent.

"Yeah, um… Me too. Amazing how filling those gyoza are after the first twelve! I'll just… take mine to go…" Raph added.

Casey sent the pair of them dirty looks. Challenging their culinary cowardice, he grabbed one of the octopus tacos. "I'll try one," he announced, bravely crunching into the shell and ready to stifle a gag.

Murakami obligingly wrapped the uneaten tacos in foil, placing them in a carryout with two dozen gyoza for the non-present turtles and April.

"Murakami-san, domo arigatou gozaimasu." Leo accepted the bag, with a bow he had to assume the blind man knew he was making, as he bowed in return.

"Anything for my good friends."

Here was his moment! Raph seized on the topic. "Ya know who's also a good friend, Mr. Murakami? My buddy Casey here." Casey paused at hearing his name, looking up with a piece of tentacle he didn't have the teeth to bite through sticking adorably out one corner of his mouth. "He's a little rough around the edges," Raph decreed, "but as far as loyalty goes, you won't find a friend more loyal than Casey Jones. Skilled, too. Did you know, he can fire a puck into a soda can thirty feet away with dead-on accuracy nine times out of ten?"

"No, I did not know—" Mr. Murakami started to answer, only to be run down by Raph's apparent monologue.

"And courageous. My boy Casey went up against the Shredder on his own and tased him! Ol' Metal Mouth never knew what hit him! And determined… Once he gets the bit between his teeth…er, metaphorically speaking… there's nothing stopping him! Whatever it is, he'll see it through to the end!"

"Well, that is very—"

"A lot like Fearless here, actually. Now Leo… Leo works everything to perfection. Training. Practicing. Meditating. These muscles of his are rock hard. He may not have the raw edge Casey has, but Leo has worked his shell off to be the absolute best! Not just with physical moves either… No, Leo trains in things like strategy and team dynamics and planning ten moves ahead of the enemy, which is what makes him such a good leader."

Leo blushed modestly. "Thank you, Raph."

"Shut up, I ain't done talking about you," the red-banded brother said, not missing a beat while Leo's beak wrinkled. "You gotta watch out for Leo though… 'cause if you've won his loyalty, he will throw himself on a grenade for you. And he can nag—boy, can he nag—but if you can get him to pull the stick out of his ass, he can be a real decent guy to hang out with."

"All good things to know," Murakami stated with a patient smile. "Your brother and friend are lucky to have someone who says such nice things about them!"

Raphael grinned, certain he'd gotten Leo and Casey to notice one another a bit more, though he didn't pick up on the static-charged glares the two were shooting each other behind his shell.

"And, with that, it's about time for us to head home," Leo proclaimed, thanking their chef friend once more as he led the way out the back door, Raph following.

Noticing the others leaving, Casey shoved the rest of the taco in his mouth. "'ese are pretty tasty, Mr. M! Little chewy. Would eat again." The teen rifled through his wallet and shoved a ten in the tip jar, flicking the rim to make it ring, alerting the blind man of his action.

"Thank you very much, my young friend! Enjoy your evening!"

x-x-x-x-x

In the alley behind the restaurant, the turtle leader motioned his brother toward the nearest sewer access. "After you."

Raphael waved him along. "I'll catch up in a minute… Just wanna plan some stuff with Case for tomorrow."

"All right. Don't take too long," Leo said in an easy tone, signaling to Raph that he'd put the leader in a good mood. He hoped it was because he'd started noticing some of Casey's better aspects, thanks to him. He gave himself a mental pat on the shell as he awaited his friend.

Casey gave him a nod of acknowledgement as he exited the building.

"Hey, man."

The teen gave his signature gap-mouthed grin, eyes glittering at the hotheaded turtle. "That was some pretty nice stuff you said about me in there. Why talk me up to Mr. Murakami, though? Tryin' to get him to give me a job or something?"

Raph snorted. "Nah. Just giving some credit where credit's due. We've got early patrol tomorrow, then movie night. You comin'?"

"I'll try to drop by for the movie… got an essay due, and April will only help as far as the outline, won't let me copy offa her."

"Cool. We'll save you some popcorn."

"Awesome, man. Thanks."

"See ya then."

They exchanged a fist-bump in their usual fashion, but this time, Casey's fingers trailed lazily along Raph's wrist in place of the usual explosion motion. Raphael blinked, wide-eyed, then shook his head, brushing it off as nothing as he headed for the manhole.

As he reached the bottom of the ladder, he noticed his brother standing not far off. "Thought you were gonna go on ahead."

"Figured you wouldn't be long, and I'd rather have the company."

Raph raised an brow-ridge. "What, seriously?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

"Have you _met_ you?"

Leo chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I guess I see your point. Even so, you seem in a nice enough mood this evening, so I figured I'd better enjoy it while it lasts."

Raph set his fists on his hips, shouting, "Whaddya mean 'while it lasts', Fearless?!" but dropped the act when Leo looked back at him with a meekly stunned face, and both of them dissolved into laughter.

"Come on… We should get home and check on Mikey."

"Yeah, and get there just in time to catch Don and April makin' out in the pit…"

Leo let out a little groan at the prospect. "You know what, I will slow-race you home."

"What, like when we were kids?"

"Yeah! Slow-motion run back to the Lair, no completely stopping. First one to the turnstiles loses!"

The red-banded ninja snickered. "All right, you're on!"

"Ready, set… sloooow!" Leo announced, and both started moving in slow motion though the tunnels.

"Iiiii'mmm gooonnnnaaa beeattt yoooouuuuu, Leeeeeooooo!" Raph enunciated while exaggeratedly pumping his arms.

"Nooooooooo waaaaaaayyyy, Raaaaaaapppphhh!" Leo countered, extending one leg far forward in the air and taking an eternity to lower it to the ground.

"Lllleeeeeeooooo?"

"YYyyyyeeeaahhhh?"

"Yyyyyoooooouuuu'rrrre aaaa doooorrrrrkkk!"

Leo broke form, starting to giggle.

"Nnnnnooooo lllaaaaauuuuggghhhiiiinnnggg nnnooooorrrrmallllll, Llllleeeeoooo!"

"Ooooookkaaayyyy… Iiii meeeeaannn haaa, haaa, haaaaaaa!" Leo replied, earning a snort from Raph.

It took them more than 45 minutes to reach the Lair, muscles aching from the exaggeratedly slow movements. In the end, it was more or less a tie, both turtles trying to claim the victory just to give the other a hard time. Don and April's heads popped up from the pit at the noise of their arrival to give the impression they had definitely not been up to anything.

The instant he spotted Donnie, Leo was back in mother-hen mode. "How's Mikey?"

Don gave him a wan smile. "Fat, happy, and engaging in Favorite Activity number four."

Leo shared his grin. "And the concussion?"

"Very slight, if any. Just a little bruising. He might be a little dizzy from time to time, but I don't expect any further symptoms."

"Nothing serious enough to, say, beg off from morning training?" Raph suggested.

The genius chuckled. "He wishes."

Leo held up the bag of carry-out, shaking it once. "Snacks from Mr. Murakami for you guys, then it's time to turn in." The words were barely out of his mouth when an orange blur shot past, taking the dangling bag out of his hand. "Mikey!" he called after it, then turned back to the pair. "I thought you said he was asleep!"

"He was," April assured. "Out like a light and snoring like a fleet of chainsaws after pizza and hot chocolate. But you know Mikey and his preternatural sense for pizza gyoza."

"Hey, save some for the rest of us, Mikey!" Don called chasing after the family glutton, April right on his heels.

Mikey pulled one of the tako-tacos from the sack. "Oooh, what're these?" After a quick examination, he declared, "Tentacular spectacular!" and crammed the whole thing in his mouth, tentacle tips sticking out from all directions. "Mmm! Chewy!" he managed to say around them.

Raph and Leo both rolled their eyes as a scuffle broke out for the gyoza. "And with that, I'm headed to bed," the leader announced. Raphael still had his eyes on the fight when his older sibling pulled him in to affectionately bump foreheads with him. "Thanks for a nice night, Raphie. We should do this more often."

The red-banded ninja felt a warming from his cheeks to his ear-slits. "Um…" he started to reply, but Leo was already halfway to his room by then. And was it him, or did he just do an extra little swish with his tush, showing off his tail?

He shook his head to clear the image. This night was getting to be too much for him. Taking a cue from Leo, he likewise decided to get some rack time and left the rest bickering over the food.

x-x-x-x-x

Practice started feeling… weird, as if Leo had half an eye on Raphael at all times. Even when he was correcting Don and Mikey on their forms during sparring, one steel-blue orb occasionally slid over to him. Raph could swear once Leo had even given him an almost imperceptible wink.

Then came their turn to spar. While going through a fairly standard match, Leo's eyes kept boring into him, not leaving his face for a fraction of a second. Raph had to do his best to pry himself away from Leo's near-hypnotic gaze, and when he did, he realized that Leo had left his side unguarded. The inviting gap, encouraging Raph to take a swing at his brother's open torso, could have been a legitimate miscalculation, or it could have been bait, and with Leo, chances leaned far to the latter. Only one way to fine out, he decided, and feinted a jab at the area, pulling back at the last second, when his brother's arm snapped down to try to trap his.

"Hah!" Raph crowed in Leo's face, then found himself on his shell as Leo took advantage of that split-second distraction and hooked Raph's ankle, pulling him off his feet.

He offered a hand-up, and the hothead reluctantly took it, still pinned by that intense, unceasing gaze.

"Good job. You didn't let me catch you with that false opening."

"Yeah, well… Sneaky ninja…" he replied by way of brushing the compliment off, at the same time feeling a measure of pride at Leonardo's words. But coupled with that unflinching gaze… Weird.

x-x-x-x-x

Patrol ended up being a relief; sent out in a group with Mikey and April, Leo's eyes were finally off him for a change. In fact, Leo had let him choose patrolling partners, and nodded his approval at Raph's choices.

A slow night for crime, the trio had only caught and walloped one scrawny jerk trying to put a fake reader on an ATM, so Raph had plenty of time to mull over Leo's recent behavior. The stares. The compliments. The best-brother routine. He shook his head; he couldn't put it together. And then one more puzzle piece tonight, when Leo relinquished his iron control for a change and let Raphael choose the teams. That was more trust than Leo was usually willing to afford him.

"You all right, Raph?" April asked, breaking him out of his train of thought, and at his blank look at her question, added, "You've got a case of pensive-face."

"Fine," he said automatically, but scowled at himself after. If anyone could sort through Leo's sudden weirdness, the team empath could. Clearly, she already sensed that something was up with him. He shifted his gaze to the other member of the group, who was currently turning somersaults along the rooftop's balustrade, for lack of anything better to do. If not April, Mikey was always on top of the turtle family's emotional needs… Raph was certain Michelangelo would have observed and picked up on something or other.

But what was even the question he wanted to ask? 'Has Leo been acting weird?' didn't really narrow things down, and they'd think he was simply being jealous of the leader, or pointing out one of his flaws behind his back. That was far from the case—at least this time—but he knew they would both be thinking it of him. Maybe Leo wasn't being weird. Maybe he was being normal, and Raph was the one being a weirdo, jumping at shadows. And that wasn't an answer he wanted to hear, so it was easier to just clam up.

He spent the rest of the patrol dodging looks and questions from his teammates.

x-x-x-x-x

Movie night arrived, and Raph honestly felt like he needed it… a few hours to just veg and not have to think about how close Leo seemed to want to be to him. He plopped down on one of the benches before the TV without so much as thinking about it, until Leo scooted in next to him. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about that much, because at that moment, Casey burst into the Lair, announcing his presence in typical Casey Jones fashion… about as stealthy as a rampaging elephant. With a whoop and a handspring over the back of the bench, he landed squarely between Raph and Leo, the latter complaining as he was shoved aside to make room for Jones's narrow little butt.

"Excuse you, that seat was already occupied!"

"Sorry, Leo," the lanky teen said dismissively. "Ya know I always sit next to my best bud, though."

That wasn't entirely true, Raph realized. Casey's preferred position in the viewing pit was next to April, with Raph on his other side when possible… or blocking Donnie from her, up until recently. But honestly, Raph didn't care. They could make comments to each other from one side of the pit to the other, unless they were sharing something secret… in which case, they were better off telling each other outside of the Lair; ninjas had this bad little habit of eavesdropping.

On the other foot, at least Jones had placed himself hip to hip with Leo, which would have made Raph smirk in triumph, if the two of them would just look at each other, for a change. But no, while Fearless occasionally treated Casey to an icy glare, Casey kept his eyes on the screen, reciting some of the more memorable lines along with the movie.

Raph hadn't really noticed, but at some point, Casey's hand had landed on his thigh, and didn't move it until the hotheaded turtle nudged him. "Oh, sorry," the human murmured, removing the offending appendage, but a few minutes later, swung his arm up around Raph's carapace. Not wanting to make a scene while Princess Buttercup was being rescued by the Dread Pirate Roberts, he begrudgingly ignored it.

"OW!" Leo remarked, looking around to see the object that had just smacked against his head—an orange peanut M&M—and glanced daggers over at Casey, who was looking the pinnacle of bored innocence and definitely not like he was reaching into the bag, about to flick another one at him.

Raph felt eyes on him from across the room… not Leo's, for a change, but Mikey's, and he caught his little brother's gaze. True, Mikey had a habit of grinning at every little thing, but his eyes glittered as he stared toward Raph and Casey, and the optimistic smile widened a touch more as Raph made eye contact. Raphael scrunched his brow slightly, not having a clue as to what Mikey was picking up on. He looked away for a moment to ponder, then looked back to his brother, but Mike's gaze was fastened innocently on the screen and he refused to look Raph's direction again.

Raph settled his gaze back on The Princess Bride, though his attention was anywhere but on the movie anymore. Why was everyone acting so bizarre?

After a while, he felt a need to use the facilities and stood. Casey's head snapped up toward him in concern. "Raph?"

"Just gotta go to the bathroom."

Now Leo was staring over the back of the pit at him as well. "Do you want us to pause it for you?" For whatever reason, this drew Jones's scowling gaze toward him, and Leo treated him to a hard look in return.

"I've seen it," he waved them off as he left to do his business.

At least they were looking at each other, though maybe not as romantically as he had hoped…

He spent his time in the bathroom wondering what else he could do to get his brother and friend together. He was sure romance was all about subtlety. Problem being, subtlety was not something that came to him naturally, and thus he hadn't half a clue as what to do next, short of parking those two nose to nose and telling them to go at it. This matchmaking shtick was not his thing. Frustrated, he wondered if he should just let the whole thing drop, and yet his pride wasn't ready to admit failure.

He nearly bumped into Michelangelo as he exited the restroom, side-stepping to let his brother pass, but Mikey fell in step with him instead. "So, have you two picked a date yet?" the orange-banded turtle teased, with that same sparkle in his eyes as before.

Raph gave him a sidelong look. "Date? What date?"

"The wedding date, dude! You and Casey are an item, right?"

An item? He wasn't an item, he was a person! And with him and Casey, wouldn't they be two items? He looked to Mikey to express his confusion. "The heck are you talking about?"

Mikey's grin stayed firmly in place. "You and Casey are looking awfully chummy tonight… well, Casey is. Leo's totally about to lose it, too."

Raph blinked for a moment. "NO," he declared as firmly as he could without yelling. How stupid could Mikey be?

His brother gave an easy tilt of the head. "If you say so. C'mon… I had them pause it anyway 'cause I know you don't wanna miss the scene with Inigo fighting the Six-fingered Man!"

Raph snorted playfully and gave his younger sibling an affectionate noogie. Leave it to Mikey to make sure Raph saw his favorite part.

But he was distracted with his thoughts for the rest of the movie, and with both Casey and Leo's nigh imperceptible gestures, toward himself and each other, the tension building in his shoulders from the nerves was starting to give him a headache…

He was only half listening when, as the credits rolled, Casey declared, "I gotta get going… still gotta finish that essay. You wanna walk me part-way? I gotta tell you about this wicked skate park they're planning…"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure," he agreed, numbly following the boy out despite Leo's warning words, still lost in his thoughts as Casey went over all the details the new park would include, and how it would be awesome for him and Raph to go shred the place some night, and what the teen was already thinking about ways it could be improved for maximum extreme metal-ness. Raph was listening with half an ear(-hole) when Casey pointed out that they were at the halfway point and thanked his friend for a nice evening.

"Uh-huh," Raph answered perfunctorily. Casey said something sassy, which Raph didn't catch, but nodded in response as if he had, and before he knew what was happening, his friend had leaned forward and given him a quick peck on the lips.

Raph was frozen to the spot, wide-eyed and wondering what had just happened. It was well after Casey had loped away with a backward wave and a "See ya tomorrow!" that his brain was able to start processing again, and when it did, everything clicked into place. Casey's flirtatiousness. Leo's closeness. The glacial looks between them. It all made perfect, horrible sense.

His face fell into his hands. "Ohhh no… No, no, no… NO!"

x-x-x-x-x

After alternately punching a sewer wall and banging his head against it for the better part of an hour, Raph decided he was getting nowhere with unraveling this messed up situation on his own, and, swallowing his pride, took to the rooftops.

He rapped heavily on the window pane, making it rattle. Their red-headed ally appeared, wearing pajamas and a slight blush as she opened the window. "Donnie, I thought we agreed, no more midnight—Raph?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry it's so late, but… I'm in a real mess…"

"Come on in. We'll have to keep our voices down, though… Dad's sleeping."  
"I am not sleeping," Kirby O'Neil's voice wafted from the other room. "There is a difference between sleeping and attempting to sleep. Being a bat for several months has left my circadian sleep cycle a little… out of whack." His upper body appeared as he leaned around the corner. "Hello, Raphael. Filling in for Cyrano de Turtle-ac this evening?"

"Dad!" April shrieked in embarrassed teenage protest, reddening even more, as she waved the mutant turtle inside. "What's the matter, Raph?" she said, fighting bleariness and bashfulness, scrubbing a palm against one eye.

The ninja gave a long-suffering sigh and sat on her bed. "I was tryna get Leo and Casey together, but somethin' went wrong… And now they're, like, both crushing on me instead."

April grimaced. "Yikes. How'd you manage that?"

"Well, I was kinda… listing their best qualities, so they could see how great each other were. Next thing I know, they're both gettin' all close and touchy-feely toward me and mad at each other…"

"That explains the frustration that was rolling off you the other night. But boy, tonight…"

"Casey_ kissed _me!"

"What, really?!" April squealed, both aghast and looking eager to know more juicy details.

"Ah. I think I see what happened here," Kirby volunteered, sitting beside him. "You appealed to each of their egos, and they didn't see it as an advertisement of the other's qualities, but rather as your supposed attraction to them."

Raph considered this. "You sure?"

Kirby grinned. "They didn't call me Dr. Love for nothing." April covered her face with her hands and shook her head, the pinnacle of daughterly embarrassment.

"So what do I do about it?"

"_Tell them_," both said at the same time.

"Jinx," Kirby added, with a playful point to his daughter.

Raph drummed his fingers together. "I was tryna be subtle…"

April tossed her head with a grand sigh. "Raph, the last thing they expect from you is subtlety. They're not going to get it. Leo is more nuanced, but if it's something out of left field from you, like this, he's not gonna pick up on it. And Casey… is Casey!"

"If possible, you'll want to get them on neutral ground. Not the Lair, and not the rooftops where you and Jones normally hang out, or they may take it as you siding with one or the other of them."

"The park is a nice place at night… Mostly abandoned, lots of good cover, plenty of romantic vistas," April suggested.

Her father scowled. "You know this, how?"

"Dad…"

"You don't think it would just be easier to tell them both to go f—"

"NO! Then they'll never get together! And you're right that they belong together… they totally complement each other," April said, winking at him.

Raph inhaled deeply, then let the breath out with a huff. "Okay. What do I do? What do I say?"

"Just… be yourself," she said, and at his skeptical look, added, "Okay, be a better version of yourself. Tell them what they need to know, and then just… let it happen."

The turtle's mouth tightened in a gesture of acceptance and bracing himself. "Okay. I can do this…"

x-x-x-x-x

"'course I can do this," he confirmed to himself, leaning against a tree at the designated spot he'd asked both Leo and Casey to meet him at. "I got this." He had to keep reassuring himself that this would naturally go off without a hitch. If it didn't, he didn't know what else he could try. At that point, possibly one or both of them could be too mad about the whole situation to talk to him for a long while, and Raph really didn't want it to come to that. He wasn't enough of a talker to find the right words to smooth things over. He had neither Casey's charm nor Leo's diplomacy.

He pulled his t-phone to check the time: 10:45. He'd told Casey to meet him at 10:30, knowing full-well he'd be late. He'd told Leo 11:00, knowing Mr. Puncturtle would be there early. They didn't disappoint him. He spotted Jones approaching, hands in his jean pockets, at a casual lope. He didn't so much as hear Leo approaching as sensed him, in a way only a ninja could.

"Hey, Raph!" Casey hailed him as he walked up. The boy stopped to look around at the view. "Nice spot… what's with the change of venue, though? You lookin' for something a little more… romantic?"

Raph had to restrain himself from blurting out a snappy comeback, and settled with, "Yeah, somethin' like that."

"So," Casey said easily, sliding his hand into Raph's, "where we goin'?"

But Raphael pulled his hand free. "Ah-ah, we're waitin' for one more. Come on down, Leo."

The turtle in question dropped down from the tree Raph had been leaning against. "You invited Casey?" he said flatly, with poorly-concealed irritation.

"Aw, come on, Raph! You brought Leo on our date?!"

"Date?!" Leo exclaimed. "You couldn't possibly be on a date with Raph… he's here to meet up with me!"

"Guys…" Raph tried, as calmly as he could manage.

"Whatever, Lame-onardo! C'mon, Raph… Let's ditch the third wheel here and get on with our evening…"

"If anyone here is the third wheel, it's you!" Leo snapped back.

"Guys!"

"Every day, you're up Raph's ass about somethin'! Leave him alone already!" The teen angrily reached behind him for his hockey stick.

"That's the way we're gonna play it, huh? Well…" Leo drew one of his katanas, more as a show of force than intent to slice their friend up, but he held the air that he would happily do so if pushed to it.

Raph growled a sigh. With blinding speed, he took his older brother by surprise, grabbing him into a headlock, then repeating the move with his other arm, trapping a slower-reacting, confused Casey.

"Raph!?"

"What the fuck, man?!"

The hothead snorted like a bull gearing up to charge. "Listen up. I am not a wheel. You two idiots are the wheels. You've got so much sexual tension between you, you could bounce a quarter off it!" He let them loose, but grabbed Casey by the back of the hoodie and Leo by the carapace, holding them face to shocked face, in a way they had no choice but to look at each other and not him. "I'm not the one you're into. It's each other you should be into. I was trying to get you two to notice each other the other night, and, apparently, it backfired... and I've been too thick to notice your advances for what they were. I've been advised by one 'Dr. Love' to not try being subtle again in the future, and I can see why."

He could tell, just holding them there together, something was happening between them: their expressions getting softer, more filled with wonder, their eyes locked. He grinned.

"The things I said about you both were true… but I meant them to make you realize them about each other, not get your attention on me."

"But Raph, you…" Casey started, almost managing to drag himself away from Leo's gaze for a second, pulled back in at the last moment.

"Think about it… Casey's so much like me, Don even called him another me. And Leo and me… we're complete opposites, but we've always been thick as thieves, even since we were little. We fight like cats and dogs 'cause we're so different at the core, but we always come back together because we balance each other out. You balance each other the same way… you just didn't grow up with it like me and Leo did. You're fire and ice, and yin and yang, and the sun and the moon, and all that stuff. You just haven't seen it 'cause… I've been in between you."

Following a moment of silence, where the pair merely continued to gaze at one another, a shy smile crept around the edges of Leo's mouth. "What do you think, Casey? Should we—mmph!"

The turtle was taken by surprise as Jones's lips collided roughly with his, but raised no objection, rather closing his eyes to sink further into it.

Raphael smirked, mumbling to himself, "Mission accomplished…"

Eventually the smooching pair broke apart, gasping for air. "Sorry…" Casey moved a hand to scratch the back of his head. "I kinda… got lost in the moment."

"Well," Leo chuckled teasingly, "if you feel like getting lost in any more moments again anytime soon, be sure to let me know."

The raven-haired teen shot him a charmingly gapped grin, raising his eyebrows and nodding.

Another kiss looked about to ensue when male shouting and a female scream went up not far from them. Raph rolled his eyes at the interruption. "Mugging. I got it," he said, taking a few strides down the path, when his brother's hand came down on his shoulder, patting it.

"Know what, bro? Why don't _we_ get this one?" Leo smiled, aiming a nod toward the human teen.

Raph pressed his lips together in a tight grin and offered a guiding bow down the pathway to them. "All yours. Smack 'em hard for me!"

With Casey pounding down the path on his skates and Leonardo bounding silently above from treetop to treetop, it was mere seconds before they came upon a tearful woman, whom Casey urged to say put, and only moments later before they caught up to the purse snatcher. Leo dropped out of the foliage to run beside his new significant other.

"I'll hit him high," he said, meeting Casey's eye with a mischievous twinkle in his own, which the young man's immediately reflected.

"An' I'll hit 'im low!"

The creep never knew what hit him. One second, he registered the sound of oncoming wheels, and the next, he was in the air as his feet were knocked out from under him. A fraction of a second later, he only knew unconsciousness as he was slammed forward again from the firm impact to the back of the head by a katana hilt. In fact, the next thing he'd be aware of would be hanging with his wrists tied together around a high bough of an oak tree, with his feet dangling a good twelve feet above ground and having to scream to the early joggers below to get him down.

Casey returned the woman's bag to her, pointing her back Raph's direction, so she'd have an unseen escort home, and made his way back to Leo, in time to snicker at seeing the mugger strung up from the tree. Leo jumped down, dusting his hands off, and they high-fived, then moved back into heavier cover, where they began feeling each other up in relative privacy. Masks and bandanas were dislodged, falling down to hang around necks.

At some point later, as Leo was catching his breath and deciding that Casey was as talented at tonsil hockey as he was at the regular sort, he looked out over the serene pond across from them, reflecting the moonlight on its casual rippling. "Raph really did pick a nice spot," he mused.

His companion beamed down at him, ignoring the pond. "I sure can't complain about the view."

Leo returned the look, losing himself again in the beautiful dark eyes before him, and reached up to smooth a lock of the long bangs, normally confined by the skull-patterned bandana, out of Casey's eyes.

"Do you think Raph was right? That we balance each other so well?"

The boy shrugged and winked, deeply tipping the turtle back, approaching for another breath-stealing kiss. "Only one way to find out…"

x-x-x-x-x

**a/n:** Prize fic for the-fourth-queen on deviantArt. She came up with the love triangle concept.


End file.
